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Are The Seattle Sounders Finding Form? - Ep. 38
60 Plays1 year ago
Noah and Ari discuss the Seattle Sounders' recent victory over St. Louis CITY SC and the ongoing debate about the team's starting striker. We answer your questions, including the team's recent form, player movement, and bring back the Agenda Check segment. Then we break down the upcoming Real Salt Lake matchup and go around MLS to bring you winners and losers from around the league.
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Transcript
Introduction: Episode 38 Overview
00:00:10
Speaker
What's going on everybody? Welcome into episode 38 of Lobbing Scorchers. This is Ari Lilianwall. I got producer Noah here with me. And folks, we got another dub pod here
Dub Pod Frequency Concerns
00:00:23
Speaker
today. Noah, how you feeling man?
00:00:25
Speaker
I don't I don't feel very comfortable with how many dub pods we've had in the last week. I know it's been like too many. I think kind of a new thing for us. We got two straight dub pods. This one for an MLS game after Seattle's US Open Cup victory midweek.
00:00:40
Speaker
And
Sounders vs. St. Louis Recap
00:00:41
Speaker
the Seattle Sounders are now actually five, one and two over their last eight games. I was looking at the schedule and found that stat. So the dub pods have been increasing in frequency over the last few weeks, which it's always more fun to lay down a dub pod than an L pod or a drop pod.
Episode Preview & Subscriber Gratitude
00:00:57
Speaker
And this dub pod today will be recapping Seattle's 2-1 victory at St. Louis City SC last night. They scored multiple goals in an MLS road game. One was an own goal and the other was from Jordan Morris. So a good dub, a good important dub on the road. Can we close the fraud watch case officially now?
00:01:16
Speaker
We can talk about St. Louis City SC fraud watch. I'm sure we'll get to that at some point. But yeah, we're going to be diving into this Sounders dub. And then also match day 16 in MLS was one of the craziest slates of games all season, just in terms of entertainment value, some wild back and forth goal filled contests. So we're going to talk about that as well in our around the league winners and losers, losers segment at the end.
00:01:40
Speaker
So it's going to be a fun episode. Good dub pod and a lot of crazy games to talk about. But before we get into that, as always, I would like to thank all of our paid subs. We have three new subs to thank this week. So thank you so much to Joey Pascanelli, Brennan Murphy, and Pete Earls. New subscribers. Really appreciate you guys. It means a lot to us to have all the support.
00:02:04
Speaker
I'll go down the whole list if that's okay, Noah, because that's what we've been doing that every week. And we're still at the point where I feel like it's both doable and necessary to thank every single one of the people that have been supporting the show. We got rhombus, we got Nate, we got Tyler, Owen, David Rodriguez, Christopher Maley, Bill Breitenbach, Mike Lentini, Aaron B, Derek Richards.
00:02:26
Speaker
Soundernaves, Dan Paveto, Mike Standish, Ryan Shane, Eric Stanley, my nephews, CJ and Miles Maranakis, Andy Hill, Ian Mitchell, and Greg Hoecker. Thank you all so much, and thank you to Joey, Brenna, and Pete for being our new subs. Joey Paints? New sub? We thought it was Joey Paints when we first saw the name. We did. We did. If you'd like to support the show, all you need to do is go to podcast.lobbinscortures.com. Click on the little heart, and you can pledge however much you want. $3, $5, $10, $10 grand.
00:02:55
Speaker
Any every little bit makes a difference and we really appreciate everyone who has already and will support the show In the future means a lot to us. We're at 22 subs right now If we could get to 23 before the next episode, that would be phenomenal Michael Jordan
00:03:10
Speaker
Of course, yeah, exactly, in honor of MJ. But in all seriousness, not obligatory at all, but we do really appreciate and love everyone who has supported us to this point. And thank you to everyone for tuning in.
Sounders Lineup Analysis
00:03:23
Speaker
Let's get into the Sounders game now. Let's do it. Let's do it. Dub Pod. Dub Pod.
00:03:28
Speaker
Let's do our lineup reaction to start. The Sounders lined it up with what pretty much looks like their first choice 11 for this game. You had Raul Rui Diaz up top with Jordan Morris, Albert Resnak, and Obed Vargas in your band of three, JP and Christian in the double pivot, Cody Bakes, and Alex Roldan as your fullbacks, Yemar and Reagan as the CBs, and frying goal. So yeah, like I said, Noah, I feel like
00:03:54
Speaker
in your typical first choice game where you have everyone at your disposal other than like new who suspended for this game. This is pretty much how I would expect them to line it up. And we're going to talk about it later in the show. But I think the only thing really that's subject to debate. I mean, some people think that they would prefer CR 10 over Rusnak. But I mean, I just don't think that's going to happen in a first choice scenario, really. I think Rusnak is still the obvious starting number 10.
00:04:23
Speaker
but you know there's going to be a debate and we'll get into it on whether it should be Jordan or Raul at the nine other than that I think they're going to keep rolling with Obed as you're right mid with Christian dropped back which I'm cool with that they did slot Obed into the middle though game which we can talk about yeah we can talk about that but
First Half Breakdown
00:04:45
Speaker
I thought this was a good way to line it up. It's probably roughly how I would line it up. Do you have any different thoughts on that other than maybe the nine debate, which we can get into? Honestly, if I were to take this roster at face value, this is exactly the starting 11 that I would put out there, including Cody Baker. I think that this was the right choice. It was nice to see a midweek matchup on the road where Brian was
00:05:13
Speaker
able to put out like basically an entire first choice eleven of the players that are healthy right now Pedro de la Vega not being there was definitely questionable which they said okay he's only going to play like home matches or limit his matches which you know that's concerning when your DP is you know already made of jello but
00:05:35
Speaker
What are you going to do? I thought I was I was not unhappy with this lineup. That's for sure. Yeah. So I was talking about it kind of under the assumption that De La Vega is not available, which, you know, it's been kind of 50 50 right now if he's going to be. I think obviously he would be starting if he was available. The Sounders issued a statement that I saw that Jeremiah O'Shan from Sounder at Heart Friend of the Pod Relay, which is that
00:05:56
Speaker
He didn't have a setback or anything He they're just managing his minutes and didn't want to put him back out there for this game they're gonna probably play him in this next game coming up against real Salt Lake, but um They're just resting him essentially. Yeah, which so hopefully we get to actually see him play But yeah under the assumption that de la Vegas was unavailable. This is pretty much how I would line it up and
00:06:22
Speaker
Let's get into the game itself. So the first half ended up being 0-0, which I think any time you're the road team, your first task is to manage those first 15 to 20 minutes and try and avoid the inevitable onslaught of pressure that the home team is going to try and throw at you. And I actually thought Seattle did well to do that.
00:06:49
Speaker
It didn't feel like St. Louis came out particularly on the front foot. I thought the game stay was well managed, but unfortunately they couldn't create all that much themselves, but they were able to get it to half at 0-0. But I thought the
Second Half Highlights
00:07:03
Speaker
first half was honestly just kind of a boring slog. And at that point, I mean, it kind of looked like a lot of the games that we've watched this season and even dating back to last season where there were some good moments
00:07:17
Speaker
but neither team really got all that close to scoring to my recollection. Seattle certainly didn't. So, I mean, at that point, I was thinking, okay, you're probably going to have to try and get out of here with a 0-0 or a 1-1. But in the second half, Seattle finally got their breakthrough on 66 minutes. A bit of a lucky goal, but you know you make your own luck. Christian rolled on, creates the own goal. He was trying to cross it, deflected off Kyle Hebert.
00:07:43
Speaker
and over Roman Berkey and into the net to go up 1-0 which you know it was definitely a fortunate play but a lot of those breaks have been going against Seattle this season and it was a good sequence of play that led up to the opportunity I thought Albert Rusnak did well to evade his defender and give Christian the opportunity from out wide to make that cross and
00:08:10
Speaker
yeah sure they got a little bit of lucky but um i wouldn't say it was an undeserved one zero lead at that point would you no i didn't think so at all i mean i think the first half like you were saying was this someone asked me oh i didn't i didn't get to see the first half you know how was it i was like i think the score line perfectly reflected the first half like it was
00:08:32
Speaker
nil, nil. There was really no chance that I thought would even remotely make a difference. Once that second half started, it seemed like the Sounders had kind of settled in to their tactical change, moving Obed to the defensive mid position, which I didn't like that change at all. I was really confused as to why they had moved Christian there, which clearly it paid off because of this goal that you're talking about. But
00:08:59
Speaker
I mean, generally I thought that we looked way more dangerous with Obed at right mid instead of sticking him back at that defensive mid position, which is way less of a creative role. But that said, yeah, I thought the second half was way more dangerous, so clearly Brian Schmetzer knows more than my armchair analyst asks.
00:09:16
Speaker
Obed did have, he did create that one chance. I believe that was after he dropped back to the defensive midfield where, I mean, he looked like he was at right mid on that play, but he beat his defender on the right side, made a nice run into the box. And the final ball, I think he was looking for Rusnak and that chance didn't quite come off. But I mean, is another, another fun and good play by Obed on that one.
00:09:40
Speaker
And then, of course, Christian creates that own goal to give them the 1-0 lead. And then it was only three minutes later, I believe, that Seattle went up 2-0. Albert Rusnak, again, played an integral role on the sequence. He got the primary assist on that play. Raul Ruidez got the secondary assist. It was a good combination from all three of them. Perfect through ball from Albert Rusnak. He now has five assists on the year.
00:10:08
Speaker
And Jordan Morris that this type of chance where Jordan Morris makes a running behind and And gets a one-on-one with the goalkeeper That's the type of stuff that he can do and they have they haven't been getting him those looks nearly enough this season So it was nice to see him get one like that. It was definitely poor defending from st Louis City on that sequence and
00:10:27
Speaker
I mean anytime you let Jordan Morris get a wide open one-on-one breakaway That's not what you want from the st. Louis City perspective easy finish for Jordan And that made it 2-0 So at that point, I don't know about you, but I didn't really feel all that safe at all you know when 2-0 most dangerous lead in soccer, but I
00:10:49
Speaker
I mean in all seriousness there's so much time left to go in the game at that point, 70th minute or so. All St. Louis City needs is one goal and they're right back in it in terms of result and I mean we saw that come to fruition. St. Louis really woke up and ratcheted up the pressure after that goal pretty much
00:11:07
Speaker
The rest of the game, I think, with few exceptions, was Seattle absorbing pressure and St. Louis City knocking on the door, scoring. They were all over Seattle for lengthy portions, that stretch of the game. And they finally got one. Thomas Totland scored a goal in the 82nd minute to make it 2-1. And it was really hanging on for dear life from there.
00:11:32
Speaker
Seattle got lucky, honestly, to get all three points in this game. On the last play of the game, Joel Klaus, I didn't even write this down in the outline, but he was a fun character in this game. There's a lot going on with him. But on that very last sequence of the game, he bammed one off the post. It would have been a pretty
00:11:51
Speaker
Insane shot. Honestly, it's not like it was a super high percentage chance But I don't think it wouldn't have been an unjust equalizer based on the sustained pressure that st Louis had been putting on since the Morris goal and just the general game state but it didn't go in it went off the post and Seattle takes the 2-1 victory Joao Klaus
00:12:13
Speaker
I mean he had a he had a couple of funny plays in this game. He's you know, he gets very animated out there I thought the funniest play he had was his dive when Jackson Reagan was made a challenge on and It was one of those ones where he was well Jackson was talking trash to him after it happened because if you watch the replay he really didn't touch him it was a It was a very blatant dive
00:12:38
Speaker
But it was just funny how he was arguing after the fact even though Even though it was it was honestly like dive of the season. Oh, it was I've never I haven't seen one like that in MLS in a long time It was so bad that even the Apple TV commentators were having like just taken the piss out of him And we're telling I'm like this is this has no business being in the game. This is garbage They were like he should get a yellow for this. It's the only way
00:13:06
Speaker
He will certainly show up on the disciplinary report this week. They find you for those Yeah simulation and embellishment embellishment after the fact and I guarantee you that he will find his name on that report But you know, that's one it's one thing to dive soccer players do that But then I always love when they when they argue with the ref and the other player after the fact when you know He knew he was diving but
00:13:29
Speaker
Yeah, an unfortunate game for Zhao Klaus between that sequence and then, um, BAMing the would-be equalizer off the post. He's had a tough... Last year, St. Louis City, a lot of the success that they did have was down to the fact that he was carrying the load up top, and he was scoring a lot of goals for them. And it seems like, you know, if you watch the St. Louis fan base's reaction to that, it seems like that shot right there kind of encapsulates the season that Zhao Klaus has had for them so far.
00:13:55
Speaker
I'll just hit my my Takeaways from from this game. Yeah,
Scoring Strategy Discussion
00:14:01
Speaker
first of all, this is why scoring multiple goals is important You know, we talked about that a lot on this show and it seems like an obvious point But if this had been a game where Seattle only had one goal Then you can see that goal in the 82nd and it cost you two points but because you scored two goals Noah
00:14:17
Speaker
you have a little bit more margin for error, which this team has not had enough of in recent months and dating back to last year. So it was nice to see them score multiple goals in another MLS road game. I mean, they scored three in Philly. They scored two in Portland.
00:14:35
Speaker
and they scored two in St. Louis, they won all those games. It's funny how that works. So that was one takeaway. My other takeaway is that Jordan is heating up a little bit. He scored in the Vancouver game, he scored in this game. Like I said, I think the most encouraging thing from the goal that he scored in this St. Louis game was how he scored it, that run in behind, combining with Rusnak, getting a really good high percentage opportunity and then finishing it.
00:15:02
Speaker
That's what you want to see from Jordan Morris. I thought this goal really is much more catered to his skill set than the Vancouver one where that's a ball that's pinging around in the box and it's a deflection that falls to him and he converts it. That's a good goal, but this was more of a vintage Jordan Morris goal. And he needs to be getting those looks more often to be getting on the stat sheet with the frequency that he needs to be for this team to succeed.
00:15:28
Speaker
So that was nice to see and my last takeaway was Albert Rusnak played pretty well. He was integral on the sequences for both goals. He doesn't get an assist on the on the own goal, but he set up Christian with that opportunity and then that through ball that he hit to Jordan was perfect. The weight on it, the vision to find it.
00:15:50
Speaker
Um, he now he's now got five assists on the year, which, you know, ideally you want your number 10 to have more than that through this point in the season, but, um, it was just nice to see him contributing to the team scoring, which hasn't happened enough this season.
00:16:17
Speaker
Thank you for listening to the Soundwork Heart Podcast Network, which now includes No Sonietes, Lobbing Scorchers, and The Cooler Guild. We've been independent since August of 2023,
00:16:27
Speaker
need your support to make sure it continues. Although this podcast is free, it's only made possible by your continued support. Memberships start as low as $25 a year, which not only helps make podcasts like this one happen, but also gets you access to everything we produce.
Seattle's Recent Form
00:16:43
Speaker
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00:16:49
Speaker
Most notably, entry into our members-only Discord where the smartest, funniest, and most engaged commenters share their thoughts and ideas. To find out more, just visit centeratheart.com and click the subscribe button in the top right corner. Thanks for listening!
00:17:12
Speaker
Yeah, I kind of took a little bit away from this game, but not really much. I think my biggest takeaway was St. Louis City are probably the closest team to the Sounders right now in terms of like snake bitterness, in terms of just like offensive woes. I really don't think the Sounders had any business winning this game. They got a lucky bounce and they missed what
00:17:38
Speaker
Should have put the game away and they wouldn't have even had to worry about the pressure In the last 20 minutes with the musavski miss which we will talk about in depth I think the second thing that I took away was
00:17:54
Speaker
I was a little bit confused by the player movement that Schmetzer made, although I will say that clearly it worked. I don't agree with his Reed Baker Whiting substitution for Cody Baker. I thought if anyone was going to come off, it should have been
00:18:09
Speaker
Alex and I was really confused when he put Paul Rothrock back there at the end of the game I thought that was just an absolutely mind-blowing Substitution and I'm continued to be confused why he refuses to play Paul Rothrock at the nine when Danny Musavski is not hitting he's not hitting
00:18:30
Speaker
But yeah, I think that this team got lucky to get out of there with three points, which is exactly what you would said at the beginning of this episode, but it doesn't make me any more. It doesn't make me any more like excited to watch this team. It doesn't make me any more like.
00:18:48
Speaker
I don't feel any differently about this team but what I will say is they needed some luck to go their way and it did and that feels really good and that's something that you can actually build momentum on. Yeah I mean that's what I was gonna say is you know like we talk about it but you you make your own luck and I thought they did that in this game and you know I wouldn't say I agree I wouldn't necessarily say that the way I think about this team has changed based on this one game but I do think there's you know
00:19:16
Speaker
There's something to the fact that their five one and two across their last eight across all comps. That is a legitimately good run of form over a sustained sample. It hasn't always been the prettiest in like the open cup victories, I think. They got them done, but they weren't necessarily dominant results. And then there hasn't really been all that dominant result, I think, in that stretch. They were dominating the Philly game, but then that one kind of
00:19:41
Speaker
went haywire in the second half. This game really went haywire late in the second half. But I would say my conclusion is that they are playing better over this last stretch than they were earlier in the season. And the other thing is that they're officially above the playoff line now. They're up to ninth place.
00:19:59
Speaker
So they're at least, they're in the mix and with a lot of games left, they have a chance to move up the table and I don't know if I would expect them necessarily to get a top 4C, but I do expect this team to make the playoffs. Let's hit the agenda check, Noah. I've got a few written down here. We're going to go through it in the new segment that we debuted last week and it seemed to be pretty popular, so we're going to do it again. The ones I have written down, you can tell me if I missed any.
00:20:23
Speaker
We got Moose, Paul Rothrock, Kalana Kosturianzi, Cody Bakes. And then I threw in the Jordan at the nine instead of Raul Agenda. That seemed to be a talking point after this game. So I got that one in there as well. Do you have another one, Russnak? No. I mean, we can hit Russnak quickly, just for the Russnak haters. OK. Yeah. Well, let's just hit the ones I have written down here. Let's do it. Moose Agenda.
00:20:50
Speaker
the game.
00:21:06
Speaker
And I mean, it's funny. It seems like that pretty much might be what's happening where you have you have a snake bit backup striker who's putting himself in good positions and just can't finish. And it's been it's just been a rough last couple of games for the moose agenda. And, you know, I'm sure he'll get his opportunities to reinvigorate the agenda. But like
Player Performance Reviews
00:21:31
Speaker
I said, right now it's teetering.
00:21:32
Speaker
I mean, I don't know how you miss that shot on goal like that. That was needs to be three one right there. That is an all time bad play like that is an all time bad play and that coming off of the easiest assist of your life and you missing that.
00:21:49
Speaker
It's dead, dude. Life support is not even... You're flatlining. I think the Moose Agenda is donezo. I think Moose is in the running for A-Bear XG Merchant of the Year award. And it doesn't bring me any joy because we both were pretty high on Moose.
00:22:07
Speaker
He had been playing well. He scored a goal in the quakes game and he had generally the offense had been looking pretty good when he was on the field in limited minutes admittedly. But it's really that agenda has a torpedo to a breakneck pace. He can't even get it done against a U.S. outside like that's come on. I mean yeah that was tough play. Paul Rothrock agenda. I'll let you take that one. What do you think?
00:22:33
Speaker
I think this game he didn't really play all that well I mean he gave up a pretty gnarly free kick just outside the area but I think in general like I said he's being used constantly as this utility plug-and-play player when I don't think that that is his strong suit like when you're slotting in a guy who has played limited MLS minutes into a like what should be like a journeyman role
00:23:00
Speaker
It's never going to turn out the way that you want it to turn out. He's going to get frustrated when he's playing fucking right back when he's supposed to be like a right mid or a striker. So I like I don't know about this. Paul Rothrock is a nine. I mean, it's it's a it's a good bit, but I'm not sure that's like anything that would actually like if you would ever actually get deployed there. I think of him as more of an attacking mid winger or center mid.
00:23:24
Speaker
I mean, I don't know. I don't, I feel like he's played at the nine before, right? Like he's played, I did maybe for Toronto, Toronto. So like I, it doesn't matter regardless. Like put him in an attacking position, get him forward, like very confused as to why he's playing right back.
00:23:40
Speaker
Yeah, the Paul Rothrock agenda is pretty simple to me. I mean, it completely hedges on whether he unexpectedly scores goals. And if he's not doing that, then it takes a little bit of a hit, even if he's playing well outside of that, which that might be unfair. But the reason the agenda got started in the first place is because he was one of the only guys on the team that was scoring.
00:24:07
Speaker
So I don't think the Paul Rothrock agenda torpedoed in this game, but he needs to be scoring to strengthen the agenda. But I'm still happy to see him get these rotational minutes. And I don't think he played bad other than, like you mentioned, the foul that he gave up. That's playing with fire. You're playing with fire when you give upset pieces like that.
00:24:27
Speaker
which I don't even think that he was trying to be frustrated or anything. I think that he was truly just trying to play in that position and play hard. Not to move the agenda here, but I watched Reed Baker Whiting
00:24:46
Speaker
Reed Baker Whiting go into four back-to-back tackles and like he's a he's a duels merchant so he can do it but like if I'm Paul Rothark I'm like oh this kid's balling I'm going out I'm doing the same thing and then you know you you're not you're not read Baker Whiting yeah and to be fair the entire team kind of lost control of the game state in that kind of latter part of the second half there
00:25:07
Speaker
So it wasn't just Paul Rothrock. Kosa-Rienzi agenda, he actually got on the field with a decent amount of time left in the game and I don't really think there's many conclusions as to the agenda strengthening or taking a hit here.
00:25:23
Speaker
He had one play where he was trying to control the ball and got a yellow card for a handball. So he definitely made his imprint on that play. But aside from that, I mean, do you remember any much notable about that cameo? Which to be fair, I mean, he didn't have all that much time.
00:25:42
Speaker
He had a combination play outside on one of the wings and just was not spatially aware enough and ended up dribbling the ball out of bounds. Granted, he had a defender right on him on the touch line, so it's not like it wasn't a heads up play.
00:25:59
Speaker
I don't think that he was good. Every time I saw him on the ball, I didn't feel like he was confident. And I think that that's just something where it's going to give him time. I'm glad that we got to see him out there, though. Yeah, no. Actually, after thinking about it just now, I'm actually going to call this agenda strengthened, just based on the fact that he made this trip at all, coming off scoring the game winner in Open Cup. And I just think it's the fact that he made the trip and then subbed on when he did.
00:26:27
Speaker
That's pretty solid evidence to me that he must be bawling out in training. Like you don't really see Schmet, like Schmetz isn't necessarily a coach that's going to give you minutes just based off scoring one goal in the open cup. You need to be showing him stuff consistently to earn that opportunity. So the fact that he made the trip, Schmetz talked about him in pretty glowing terms and then he actually, he didn't just make the trip, he subbed on in this game and had a decent little cameo.
00:26:56
Speaker
He must be impressing the coaching staff. Otherwise, I don't think that there's any way he would have gotten that opportunity. So even
Striker Role Debate: Jordan vs. Raul
00:27:05
Speaker
though the game itself wasn't that notable for him, I think the agenda is on an upward trajectory right now. And the fact that it seems like he clearly impressed the coaches makes me more excited to watch him because they must be seeing something with him.
00:27:21
Speaker
Yeah, I mean there's literally the joke of Schmetzer's basement where he keeps all of the players that he's that are like not good enough and Yeah, I mean it was sick to see him get in and get minutes in this game It doesn't mean that he's gonna be a hit it doesn't mean that he's gonna be a flop like I don't really take anything from what 25 minutes of your first MLS game like I Don't care who you are like if you're if you're a college soccer player getting your first 25 minutes on the road
00:27:51
Speaker
Man, I don't know. He didn't make any huge mistakes, so that's a dub for me. Yeah. Cody Bakes' agenda, I think continues to strengthen, to be honest. More good D in this game. Didn't make all that much happen in attack, but that's not really... He doesn't need to necessarily be carrying the load in that way.
00:28:16
Speaker
He looks like a solid starting quality MLS fullback to me. I think that there's nothing that I saw in this game that torpedoed or made this agenda take a hit. Yeah, he had a really nice ball into Raul who decided to not take it into the box and instead just rip one from outside the penalty area for no apparent reason because that's the only place he wants to shoot anymore. And I thought that ball was incredible and
00:28:44
Speaker
Yeah, I forgot about that. That is a good show. That is an actual high percentage chance if Raul takes a touch on that, gets into the area, and actually tries to take a shot on target, which again, he just doesn't want to do anymore. But I constantly am impressed by that kid. I know that I bang on it every single day that I think that he's better than New Who. And New Who has been an incredible form in the last few matches. I think we both would agree with that.
00:29:10
Speaker
But like I read the side red card aside that was not I mean yeah regardless like In on average he's played his best soccer. I think in a while. I still think Cody Baker clears And that's just that's just me
00:29:27
Speaker
How about the Jordan at the nine instead of Raul agenda? You kind of alluded to it there. I saw a lot of other discourse flying around. We've talked about it on this show the past few weeks. I've been saying I still think Raul is the starting nine for this team. But after this game, I sympathize more with the Jordan at the nine over Raul agenda. I thought, I mean, Raul, to be fair, he did have a secondary assist in this game. He did well to combine with Rusnak who hit Jordan.
00:29:56
Speaker
on that goal. So he's at seven goals, two assists on the season, but I believe four of those are penalties. So him and Jordan, they have pretty much the same stat line. If you take it for non penalty goals, I think Raul has three goals, two assists. Jordan has three goals, one assist.
00:30:13
Speaker
So that's like, for however much this gets debated, I feel like it's a little bit of a wash because I do understand the argument that Jordan might be a better fit for this team at the nine on how it's currently constituted. At the same time, I don't know how much evidence there is that Jordan at the nine is going to result in drastically more goals than Rui Diaz at the nine. And then the other thing I'll say is the last two goals Jordan has scored
00:30:42
Speaker
Uh, they're not exactly number nine goals. I mean, I guess the Vancouver one, you know, he's, he's floating near the goal. The ball deflects to him and he does well to finish it. But, uh, the through ball breakaway, I mean, that's one that just, just as easily could have come with him playing out wide as it is up top. You know, I think the problem
00:31:04
Speaker
with Raul right now is he's getting his touches way too far up the field and he's just not getting looks inside the box at all like you said most of his shots are coming from distance they're not necessarily from sustainable or repeatable sequences I didn't mind him taking
00:31:24
Speaker
the shot that you talked about on the Cody Bakes play because that's kind of the only type of goal he's been scoring this season and he's also shown throughout his career that he can hit those but by the same token he needs to be getting his touches um way just way way closer to goal he's playing like an attacking mid right now so if he is going to be the starting nine i would hope that they try and drill that in training and just
00:31:48
Speaker
I don't know if he's being told to play like that, but he's not getting enough looks from inside the box. He's hardly getting any, but I mean, in the time that Jordan has gotten at the nine this season, it's not like he's been racking up tons of goals either. So it's kind of, I look at it as a choice between two options, neither of whom have staked a clear cut claim for it. That's how I see it.
00:32:16
Speaker
Yeah, I mean I joked in the last episode I was neither I was neither Raul nor Jordan, but I understand the argument against Raul, but I don't know if I agree that that Jordan has made like this clear-cut case for it either.
00:32:33
Speaker
It just sucks cuz yeah, you're in a situation where you have Musofsky who you targeted and thought would be a potential where if Raul is out of form or you or Jordan is out of form and you don't want to play him you can play Musofsky and he can be effective which like He looked like that in the beginning but now you're in a situation where Musofsky looks worse than Raul and looking worse than Raul right now in this situation is like
00:33:01
Speaker
embarrassing so you know what i will say about raul is like
00:33:07
Speaker
He has been a genuine detriment to the attack, in my opinion. I think that a lot of the heat that Rusnak has been getting is just because Raoul is like, he plays so close to Rusnak that he kind of impedes his attacking play. I just don't think the interplay between them is good at all, and I think that that ends up being a detriment to the attack. Secondly,
00:33:34
Speaker
Yeah, what are we doing ripping balls from the top of the box? Like I was looking at the shot map After the first half from the sounders or going even into the second half and it was like there was one shot from inside the box and it was still like Top top, I guess if you're looking down on a top left
00:33:52
Speaker
Barely inside the the the penalty area like you're never going to get consistent goal scoring if that is the only place that you're ripping shots from unless you're like Messy or something you know what I mean like and and he's not that Jordan on the other hand He's great if you can get him on a run like pick your head up and play him like Albert did and I thought that play was awesome like that That was textbook like
00:34:18
Speaker
What you need to see yeah, that's like if we can continue to repeat that I think jordan absolutely could be a nine But like we saw earlier in the season where like I think you had been advocating a little bit for jordan at the nine I was like on the fence, but I was advocating for it And then like I was like okay. He's not a nine anymore because they just they couldn't repeat that so it's really like a Really, you're you're kind of shit out of luck either way so like I
00:34:44
Speaker
I don't really want to pick. Do I have to pick one? I mean, yeah, I mean, that's how it feels right now. But with Jordan getting a couple of goals in the last couple of weeks, I think I think the play might be to try and ride the hot hand a little bit and see if you can get him informed. But that being said, I also think there's an element to this widget of Raul is, you know, your six to seven million dollar transfer fee DP striker. And he's the leading goal scorer in the history of the club.
00:35:14
Speaker
I don't really agree that he's like an active detriment to the attack. I mean, he scored a great goal in Philly. He scored the game winner against Portland. I mean, he's got seven goals on the season, which I realized that a lot of those are penalty kicks, but he's still he's leading the team in goals. So I think he's probably it's a situation where honestly, it will probably be rotated and mixed and matched based on
00:35:39
Speaker
match ups and on fitness. So, but it's still, I mean, it is an interesting debate that we'll probably continue to be talking about in recent weeks until one of them, neither one of them have really won the job. All you have to do to win this, to win that job is score goals. Jordan has done that the last couple of weeks, but I don't think that's really enough of a sample yet to call the debate over. So we're going to keep debating it, I guess.
00:36:02
Speaker
Yeah,
Real Salt Lake Match Preview
00:36:03
Speaker
I think but even if you look at the the underlying stats and the eye test I still think that Raul is And I was advocating for this a super sub like I just I really I really think that I don't think he can be explosive for 90 minutes anymore And I think that in reality if we're being honest with ourselves if we're looking at the stats His chances are just not there anymore That's my take
00:36:29
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I definitely agree that he's not getting looks close enough to goal as he needs to be. With this win, let's talk about the upcoming Real Assault Lake matchup and then we can move on to questions. Let's do it.
00:36:47
Speaker
We also at Lake are coming off a crazy game at FC Dallas, which we're going to talk about later. They got a 3-3 draw at the last second and they're kind of, they kind of seem chosen right now. I'm not going to lie. I mean, they were down 3-0 in that game and then came back and scored in the 90th plus eight.
00:37:06
Speaker
I mean, we just talked about them because Seattle just played at RSL. And I think the same thing holds true, which is that this is a top three to four team in the league right now. And they are, they're pretty scary in attack with Chitro Arango leading the line and Diego Luna pulling the strings and Pablo Mustrioni working the ex dog. I mean, this is
00:37:32
Speaker
Once again, like I said, the last time Seattle played RSL, not ideal timing for this matchup. At least you have it at home, which is nice. But I don't know, especially, I mean, the last time they played, it was admittedly a pretty heavily rotated Seattle side, which it might not be this time.
00:37:49
Speaker
But I still think there's a pretty big firepower differential between these two teams right now. I mean, for Seattle, even when they're getting results, it's kind of grinded out. And RSL has the ability to thermo-blast pretty much most teams in the league. So that's a long way of saying
00:38:16
Speaker
I think any result at all in this game, and you have to be happy with it, even at home, which is unfortunate because Seattle's home form, I was looking at this, Noah, has been really bad this year. Really bad. So they've actually won three road games, which is good. That's tied for the second most of any team in the West. Minnesota United has won four on the road, and then there's a bunch of teams that have won three.
00:38:43
Speaker
but three five and one in MLS is a it's a good road record but they're one one and four at home so really um just based on based on form and uh and quality i would say that um a draw here is not the worst result but they mean honestly that it's not the case actually like they need to be winning their home games and uh
00:39:07
Speaker
Doesn't really matter that we all saw like is one of the best teams in the league like Seattle's got to win this game But I don't know we also like is really really good one of the best teams in the league Yeah, I mean we'll talk later about their their last matchup with FC Dallas, but chicharango did play a full 90 So I mean we'll see how many minutes he gets on Wednesday But the rest of their team they absolutely rotated like they got most of their starters out in the 60th minute which for me
00:39:34
Speaker
That scares me like i'm not stoked to play against basically a team that has match form But got out quickly enough like got off the field quickly enough to where they're they're still rotated They're still going to be fresh and they're still probably going to be able to play 90 if they need Um, i'm not stoked to to see this. I will be there no matter what but um diego luna and chicho orango are
00:39:58
Speaker
I'm not even going to lie, like I love watching them play together. They're a fun team to watch. It's just I mean, I just hope it plays out differently. The last game, which was Seattle was rotated, but it was non-competitive. No, it was like embarrassing. It was only two zero, but that really like could have been four or five zero.
00:40:16
Speaker
Yeah, but like what do you do? We just played our full strength lineup like how are they going to line this up? I mean I we know probably Pedro de la Vega will get minutes in this game, but again how many minutes is he going to get who's going to be and really can you really be banking on him to carry the load when he hasn't played a lot lately and yeah just getting back to fitness, you know yeah like are we it'll be good to see him get out there, but I don't know how much it moves the needle just because he's still getting fit.
00:40:44
Speaker
Yeah, I think it was the right decision like to play all of our starters away from home on the road But we where we somehow have better form but you know it is it is gonna be a tough one coming back home on short rest After like what this is like week four or five of two games in a week It's just it's a tough scene, and I'm not feeling too great about it personally Yeah, I'm not either But you know if you can get a win in this game you can get up more towards the six or seven spot and
00:41:13
Speaker
in the West, depending how other
Transfer Speculations & Youth Praise
00:41:15
Speaker
results go. And more importantly, you could just keep this current run that they've been on going. I mean, they've won five of eight across all comps, so you want to keep building on that momentum. If you can, it's just, I mean, you're playing one of the best teams in the league. Let's hit questions now if you got them teed up. Thank you to everyone as always for submitting. We'll try and hit as many as we can.
00:41:38
Speaker
I'm going to start mine off with a personal question just because I've been thinking about it since this episode started. We talked about the Raoul Jordan debate. What do you do if you are Craig Weibel and Brian Schmetzer in the summer? Do you buy Raoul down? What do you do? What is your thoughts on that? Or do you just not envy their decision making? I just don't envy their decision making.
00:42:05
Speaker
I don't think you can buy Raul down. He would have to agree to that, would he not? I don't think that. You'd have to renegotiate or something. I think a lot of people want them to buy him out. But I don't think that's going to happen either. I think he's going to be on the team for the rest of the year. And I think for the most part, this is the roster that you're looking at for the rest of the season. And the way they're probably thinking of it is, if we can get De La Vega healthy,
00:42:35
Speaker
contributing that should offer the same type of boost as a big move would make because he was their big move and he just hasn't been able to play this year so I think that's what they're hoping for in banking on seems seems risky to me but when you make a big investment like that you're probably going to you're gonna want the data to see if it's gonna pay off or not before you do anything drastic on top of that
00:43:04
Speaker
Yeah, I'm interested to see what they do like I don't think that it would not make sense to buy them out But you only do that if you have someone to come in and replace exactly I think there are a lot of good players coming on the market this summer though like they've been in Europe There's I mean listen how much are they gonna realistically spend is the question? I don't think all that much but
00:43:26
Speaker
It could be a pretty, it could, I don't know, I think this summer could get interesting, but then again, when have we ever signed a difference maker in the summer? Oh wait, Nico Ledero, who knows? Yeah, I mean that was kind of the Garth Logger way special back in the day, so. Yeah, exactly. I thought this one was a fun one, touching back on the St. Louis game. How many yellows did St. Louis avoid today, conservatively?
00:43:48
Speaker
Yeah, it was physical out there. It was definitely a there's a lot of fouls. There probably could have been more yellow cards. Jow class was doing his thing. It was a good old fashioned Midwest throw down. Yeah. Someone else asked is is everyone in the Midwest just a professional wrestling enthusiast? They were exactly they were looking a little like like sporting Casey.
00:44:10
Speaker
here. This one's from Andrew Jensen. Loved seeing Rothrock and Kosa Renzi locked down that back right area at the end of the game. They swarmed the ball and brought that late energy that I wanted to see. We talked a little bit about that, but having to like not super, um,
00:44:26
Speaker
You know, not super tenured players back there. How do you think they saw at the end of the game? I thought I think in general over the last few weeks, not just in this game, the young guys have been playing well and they've been meaningfully contributing to this uptick in form for sure. I mean,
00:44:45
Speaker
Rothrock, Costa Renzi, Cody Bakes, we've talked about all of them. I mean, obviously Obed. So that is, if you're looking for encouragement over the last few weeks, I think that is, that's definitely something to point to. Jordan showed a reputable run of play goal that gives us more options than a wild shots from the 25. Why has he still played zero minutes at the nine in the four, two, three, one this season?
00:45:10
Speaker
I mean, I think you're probably going to see him play more in the next few weeks. It's definitely, it's just, it's a situation where if there is a high, hot hand, you ride it. And he's the hot hand right now with a couple of goals against Vancouver and against St. Louis. This one from Tio. Why does three points on the road still feel like a tie? Because St. Louis city was mobbing at the end and got pretty unlucky to not tie it on that shot by Joe Klaus.
00:45:39
Speaker
At the same time, I wouldn't necessarily look at it like that. I mean, did they get lucky? Yeah. But I mean, that shot didn't go in to dub and you take dubs. However, you can get them right now, especially especially in a road game and a hostile environment. This is a different point, but St. Louis City Stadium looks awesome. I want to go there one day.
00:46:03
Speaker
Yeah, no, that place looks insane. There's a lot of stadiums I want to visit, but those soccer-specific stadiums make me a little bit jealous. It's on my list.
00:46:13
Speaker
That is kind of all that I saw. I feel like we hit everything else. Do you have any questions, Ari? What have you been pontificating in your brain? I don't know. I think we hit most of it. I think the interesting thing to keep an eye on right now is what they do up top at Striker.
00:46:37
Speaker
I think it's really, it's about if, I think Jordan's gonna get some run at it. And like I said, I do think they'll rotate in mix and match because they have so many games right now. But I think if Jordan can kinda, he's wanted this role for a long time, right? He's talked about how he feels most comfortable up there. That's the position he enjoys playing the most. That's what he wants to play. And I think he'll get his opportunity to win the job. And if he keeps scoring and actually,
00:47:06
Speaker
wins the job and gets higher percentage looks than Raoul has been getting and he's converting them, then it could make a huge difference for this team. Especially when
Fullbacks & Defensive Needs
00:47:15
Speaker
you already have the new element of Obed at right mid, it could actually be a tweak that leads to improved results, theoretically.
00:47:25
Speaker
So we'll just have to see and then I guess the other thing would be Can Rusnak keep Keep the build on this game, you know, it was nice to see him contribute to a couple of sequences that led to goals That's what you need from your number 10 But I mean he has not been doing that enough this year So if he actually gets on a good run, that would make a big difference, too
00:47:48
Speaker
I do have one more too because I just thought of this. Reed Baker Whiting gets the most minutes he's seen this season. How do you think he looks? Do you think he looked better than Cody Baker? Do you think he looked better than New Who? Well, I thought he looked all right, but on the sequence where St. Louis scored, I think if you're slicing up the blame pie, you could
00:48:08
Speaker
Like, imagine the outrage if Newhoo had done that exact same thing, you know? So I think we got to be honest about that. But that being said, I'm not going to be too harsh on him for that just because he's been injured all season. He's working his way back into the fold. There's probably rest to knock off there. And also, I think it's pretty clear. I mean, we've talked about it, but RBW theoretically has as high, if not the highest ceiling of any of these Academy kids.
00:48:35
Speaker
coming up there's been a lot of reports of him getting scouted by big-time european clubs so for whatever reason i mean we haven't gotten to see him play all that much especially with the injury that he's had this year but the people who scout these things and know more about it than i do are very high on rbw and i think um you know the one defensive error he made in this game notwithstanding i'm definitely looking forward to
00:49:04
Speaker
I want to see that, you know? I want to see him make good on why he has become such a highly touted prospect, which he hasn't gotten the minutes or had the fitness to really do to this point in his career.
00:49:17
Speaker
Yeah, I don't think he covered himself in glory with the Basically new who esque defending that he did letting his man get goal side of him and poke that in I mean, I think he knew that he screwed up there You could tell he was trying to dive back in on that goal But I mean, yeah, he's he is a duels merchant like he that kid you put him 1v1 against anyone He's probably winning even knew who I think he's he'd probably be new who in a 1v1 duel like that kid
00:49:47
Speaker
a beast I want to keep seeing him play I didn't love that Cody Baker had to come off the field for him to play but like I get it you know I get it I would say he as I understand it he's got a lot more upside as an attacking fullback than Cody Baker does but I didn't see him get in the attack this game
00:50:05
Speaker
This game, but I'm saying just in general, skill set wise, he, uh, you know, this team has been, has been lacking really dynamic, attacking full back member Jones and Jones and Brad Smith. If I could air a grievance on the roster construction right now.
00:50:21
Speaker
This team was so much more consistently dangerous. You know, I know a lot of people hated on Brad Smith when he was here. That guy was a good attacking fullback. His wide service was really, really good. And he was even a little bit goal dangerous himself sometimes. But I think if there are a few changes I would make to this roster construction, but that's like right up there for me. Like I want another Jovan Jones, Brad Smith skill set type fullback. I think this team has honestly lost quite a bit
00:50:51
Speaker
since they've started lacking a player with that type of skill set. And Alex Roldon has showed flashes of being that type of fullback at times, but honestly, not really this year. I don't think he has a single assist this year, and even at his very, very best. I mean, Jovan Jones had a double digit assist season. Brad Smith, he created a lot of chances and got a lot of assists from Outwide. If RBW could become that type of player, that'd actually be huge.
00:51:19
Speaker
Yeah, no, that would be sick. Anyone who can do that. Like, I think that's when this team is so heavily dependent on service from the wide area, especially from wing backs and full backs. Like, man, yeah, we don't have that right now. So it's, it's been, it's been tough. So shout out RVW, man. Get back to form kid. I'm excited for him to get more minutes in the coming weeks here. Hopefully.
MLS Matchday 16 Recap
00:51:44
Speaker
Um, let's jump around the league, Noah, and then we can get out of here. Does that sound good?
00:51:48
Speaker
I'm an MLS sicko. Let's do it. Yeah. I mean, I've got my winners and losers, but honestly, I kind of just wanted to talk about this match day 16 slate real quick because there was some absolutely incredible games. You know, it was one of those slates where it just kind of reinforced why I love MLS. You know, is it the highest quality league on earth? No. Yes, it is.
00:52:11
Speaker
But uh entertainment value wise there are a few leagues that can match up to this MLS was Absolutely hammered last night the game of the match day for me was Toronto FC Versus FC Cincinnati they combined for seven goals
00:52:27
Speaker
And there is a few takeaways from this game. FC Cincinnati ended up winning four to three on a late game winner. But first takeaway from this was, I don't know how much of this game you saw Noah, but Lorenzo Insinie was on one. Like he, he has not been able to make the type of impact that Toronto FC would have hoped for. They released the salaries recently. I think he's the second highest paid player in the league. They're paying him like $15 million this year.
00:52:53
Speaker
And he's been mostly injured and largely ineffective for them, at least. You could say that last year, I think, when he's played this year, he's been a little better, but he's also injured. But this game was kind of a reminder of the pedigree and talent level that he has. He was dominating. He was tearing it up all night. And, god, so it was 3-3 late in the game, and Insignier lined up.
00:53:18
Speaker
It would have been one of the craziest goals all season. He somehow got a shot off from way, way outside the penalty box and rang the crossbar. And it would have been an unbelievable goal to cap off what was a stellar individual performance from him. But it went off the post and then Sergio Santos from FC Cincinnati ended up scoring the game winner at the other end to give FC Cincinnati the 4-3 victory.
00:53:44
Speaker
But I think Lorenzo Insigny and just Toronto FC in general, we've talked about it a fair amount on this show. But John Herdman, my take is that I think John Herdman might be just like a really good coach. Like he did really good work with the Canadian national team, even though they kind of flopped at the World Cup. But they won the octagonal. And in general, I think he's credited for getting them into a place where they became a pretty legitimate force in CONCACAF.
00:54:11
Speaker
and they're up there with the US and Mexico competing for the top dog in CONCACAF and a lot of that's to do with John Herdman and so far I gotta say I'm pretty impressed like Toronto Sea are much much better than I think most people expected. He's got Insigny playing well again and Bernadeschi didn't play in this game but he's been playing pretty decent ball for them this year and they just they look a lot more like the types of players that they thought they were getting when they signed him
00:54:38
Speaker
which they really did not at all last year. And so even though Toronto lost this game, I thought, I just think in general that they look actually pretty good this year. And as far as FC Cincinnati, I mean, I think they have an argument as the best team in the league right now. There's still probably a couple that I would put above them, but not many. They're going to be competing for the shield. And I thought what was really impressive was, I mean, two things. Number one,
00:55:05
Speaker
They lost five starters from the team that won the shield last year and they're contending for the shield again. So Pat Noonan and Chris Albright clearly just know really what they're doing as far as roster construction goes. And then also they were really rotated for this game and their depth came through and scored four goals, which like, you know how when Seattle goes into a game with a rotated lineup and you're basically like, all right, well,
00:55:27
Speaker
you're scoring one goal at the absolute most and you're basically just praying that your depth can get you a point in this game. When FC Cincinnati rotates, they still score four goals on the road. That's sort of the difference between where the Sounders are at right now and where the actual MLS elite are at right now.
00:55:48
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's really interesting too to talk about because it's like the you know we talked about like I'm almost 1.0 2.0 3.0 Or what are we on like 8.0 now like the Sounders haven't kept up with that the I mean I have always I was this FC Cincinnati fan when they were in the USL because I Andy Craven some may know shout out he played for them and
00:56:10
Speaker
And I was friends with Andy so I was always a I was always a pretty big fan of them And when they went on that historic open cup run to the final It was even even better for me, but man I have loved watching that team ascend from a wooden spoon Yeah, worst team to ever play in the MLS to now dislike unstoppable juggernaut with one of the best roster constructions at MLS and
00:56:35
Speaker
I don't know that that's just that's just cool to watch as a fan of the league and really shows you like this is this is a team that you should be taking notes from Toronto on the other hand little Italy they rock I love the vibes there they're hilarious John Herdman is a great coach like I think anyone would be lucky to have him
00:56:58
Speaker
But yeah, wow, I watched a little bit of that, but man, just a just a goal scoring fest. I love that. It was it was a great game and it wasn't just the fact that there were scoring goals. It was just like the timing of it back and forth. Like I was I was absolutely enthralled watching that game.
00:57:14
Speaker
FC Dallas versus RSL was also insane. We mentioned it but Dallas. Oh my god, they're down so bad They were up 3-0 and they let RSL mob back and tied it at the death. You could have made an Incredible highlight reel of goalkeeper howlers from the games this week Zach McMath had two of them for RSL in this game and so FC Dallas like they really
00:57:39
Speaker
Did not deserve the 3-0 lead that they had like both two out of their three goals were ones that Zach McMath just I mean he bungled it really badly but then but FC Dallas let RSL score three straight times to get away with the tie and Nelson Palacio scored the equalizer in the 98th minute like all FC Dallas had to do was hold on for 10 more seconds
00:58:03
Speaker
and they would have won the game at home, but instead it's a pretty great result for RSL considering their goalkeeper committed two Howlers and they were on the road. And just FC Dallas, I mean, they're having one of the toughest seasons in the league right now. And, you know, we dive into the hot seat a little bit every week. I almost feel like Nico Estevez is one that doesn't get talked about, but FC Dallas have been one of the worst teams in the league this year.
00:58:29
Speaker
That's so funny. And this game encapsulated everything that's wrong with them right now. I mean, you actually are up 3-0 at home against one of the best teams in the league. You're about to take care of business, and then you give up three straight goals at home, which just can't happen.
00:58:44
Speaker
Yeah, that was so funny because right before the Sounders game started, I saw that Dallas was up three nil or maybe it was during the game and I was like, Oh, that's cool. Good job. Good for Dallas. Like maybe they're turning it around and then I flipped on like after the Sounders match, I just was scrolling through results and I was like,
00:59:03
Speaker
Yeah, no that that makes more sense. I also saw I think Zach McMath had the lowest like player rating on foot mob Of anyone this week you guys if you haven't seen the howlers you got to look them up. Yeah, they're incredible It's that was like that's pretty that's a good bit. That's funny. Yeah, there was it so there was another that's a good segue There's another goalkeeper howler in Colorado, Minnesota, which was also three three and Had a big comeback
00:59:28
Speaker
The loons were up three, one, but Kevin Cabral, who, you know, suddenly has been contributing for the Colorado rapids after famously not doing that when he played for the LA galaxy, but he scored a brace and then Rafael Navarro tied it.
Atlanta United's Challenges
00:59:43
Speaker
But Minnesota goalkeeper, Dane St. Clair had a really bad howler in this game that contributed to Colorado getting back in it. And then Timo, Timo Pookie, who is Minnesota United's
00:59:57
Speaker
DP number nine. He could have won this game for them. He had a play where he rounded the keeper and had an open net from a kind of tough angle but a player of his skill level and pedigree. You expect him to finish it. It was a pretty bad miss and it ends up at 3-3 which for Minnesota United honestly 3-3 on the road is normally not a bad result but their head coach Eric Ramsey who I'm pretty high on
01:00:23
Speaker
after the game he was pissed he was like this we we totally lost control of this game when we're up 3-1 we need to be closing that out we didn't do that they had their striker miss the game winner but it was another just it's just another wild game all three all three of these games i was like what is going on like this
01:00:44
Speaker
Usually if you get one game like that in a match day slate, you're like, okay, that was the clear-cut best game, but all three of these games, it was just goals flying back and forth, dramatically timed goals where the results were flipping. I had a great time watching it. That rocks. I didn't see that match, but it sounds exciting to me. Yeah, you got to just pull up all the highlights. I actually do want to, when I get home, watch the wrap-up show, which I've actually really enjoyed that most wrap-up show.
01:01:13
Speaker
Yeah, no, it's pretty good stuff. One of my jobs has been taking taking clips from that from those wrap up shows and you know creating the videos and uploading them and they had a good contenders pretenders segment. But yeah, the season pass season pass crew does good work.
01:01:31
Speaker
So I guess for the winner's section, I would pick, honestly, both Toronto and Cincinnati, I know Toronto lost, but I still feel like they came out of that with dignity and they provided great game and great entertainment, and in general, they're on an upward trajectory. RSL, also, you have to give them winner's section for getting the tie there, which, you know, that's ominous for Seattle, because they're about to play RSL.
01:02:00
Speaker
And then also I would say yeah, I would say the Colorado rapids even though it was only a tie For the losers, I mean Atlanta United man.
Sporting KC vs. Portland Recap
01:02:11
Speaker
Oh, yeah Gonzo Panetta. He might be done. He might be welcome home King what so one zero loss to LA FC with at home, which is bad enough and
01:02:20
Speaker
But Brad Guzzan, their goalkeeper, got a red card, which was a really, that was a funny play. You got to look up the highlight of that as well if you haven't. Tiago Almatas seems depressed. He wants out. Jaakumakis is hurt right now. And it just seems like a situation where the writing is on the wall.
01:02:44
Speaker
I think they're probably going to make the change, not because Gonzo Pineda is a bad coach or they consider him as such, but just to change the vibes and the atmosphere. I think out of every team in the league right now, Atlanta United is down the most bad, which I...
01:02:59
Speaker
I think that's funny, you know, as an outsider, because Atlanta United, when they came into the league, they, you know, they took the league by storm. I mean, you got to give them credit for that. A member of the Almerone Joseph days, they were putting up 65, 70 points a year. They won MLS cup.
01:03:16
Speaker
that year with how we run in joseph joseph had a season for them where he scored thirty plus goals and uh... their fans thought they're like all of us is easy we're going to be on top forever and they like to talk about it like that and you know i remember thinking at the time like uh... you know it's all sunshine and roses for you guys right now but eventually uh... the reality check will probably hit it comes for it comes for everyone eventually and it's come for them uh... in spades i mean
01:03:45
Speaker
They, uh, they, uh, they really have not lived up to that, uh, early start in MLS for the last like three or four years. And now they're, uh, they're in probably the worst run of form in the league right now. And, uh, Gonzo Panetta, Seattle Sounders legend. Um, I mean, the seat, the seat is passed hot at this point.
01:04:04
Speaker
I don't know how he's alive right now. They're in a pretty congested portion of their schedule, so maybe they're waiting to make the move until the new coach can not be thrown into totally the deep end.
01:04:25
Speaker
Maybe it just feels like yeah, it just feels like it's gonna happen any day now every week They kind of find a new way To lose an excruciating fashion.
Vancouver Whitecaps' Struggles
01:04:36
Speaker
Yeah, I don't feel bad for Atlanta to be honest one of my favorite quotes of all time was from Taylor twelman on his Podcast like god years ago and they came into the league. He was like move over Seattle Atlanta are the new kings of MLS and they're here to stay and
01:04:54
Speaker
And I just thought that was so funny I clipped it and put it on on Twitter and every once in a while I'll go back and find it and retweet it just because it was such a bad take but he was on the ML the Apple TV broadcast talking about how terrible they are and Talking about how their fall from grace and all that and I just thought that was pretty funny because I'm like Yeah, even you even had the pundits tricked
01:05:19
Speaker
Even at the pundits trick. It's wild. Sporting Kansas City, the club of professional wrestling enthusiasts, they lost 2-1 to the Timbies and Phil Neville is here to stay, baby Neville Ball. Phil Neville earned himself at least another month, which, you know, that's arguably good news for the Seattle Sounders. We'll see what happens with that. But it was
01:05:44
Speaker
it was funny because Evander scored the game winner for the Timbers and it was kind of just another example of him like not really doing anything all game and then just coming out of nowhere with the goal but you know I was so when I was watching that game I was I was rooting it for it to be a 1-1 just because that wouldn't have
01:06:03
Speaker
That wouldn't have been good for sporting Kansas City because they're struggling a lot right now and they really need to win a game. And it also would not have been good at all for Portland because they were playing the game at home and they also really need to win. So when it looked like it was going to be 1-1, I was like, okay, this could actually end up being the ideal result. We might get Red Hot coach press conferences from both Phil Neville and Peter Vermees from the same game.
01:06:25
Speaker
That would have been a dream scenario. I'm, I'm bummed out that we missed out on that. I haven't watched the Phil Neville presser, but I'm sure he was hyped up about how they are now, um, the greatest team in the league. Um,
Sporting KC's Future Under Vermees
01:06:36
Speaker
so I'm probably dive into that, but, uh, it probably will be another red hot Peter Vermees press conference, which with how sporting Kansas city has been playing lately, there's been a lot of those. And I, I mean, I love a good red hot Peter Vermees pressure.
01:06:50
Speaker
Yeah, I love Peter V. I probably said this. I hope they never fire him. Yeah, no, I agree. Like he's he's he's like a staple of this league. Like everyone knows Peter V. When I worked at sporting, we even had like a bet where if you could get a photo of him smiling, everyone had to take you out to lunch. Like I love that man. I don't care if he's a bad coach, a good coach, does whatever. That dude is a legend, club legend, MLS legend.
01:07:18
Speaker
Press conference legend. Press conference legend lifetime appointment. He is the sporting Kansas City czar of professional wrestling. I think he's got one for like for as much as we talk about the hot seat. I don't get the vibe. He's on it at all. And then he might own the team. I think he does. And then finally to wrap it up here for the Loser section, I got I got the Vancouver Whitecaps, right? Oh, so we covered this whole saga with them selling the most tickets that they've ever sold because everyone thought they were going to get to watch Messi and then
01:07:47
Speaker
and none of the Barca boys except Jordy Alba I think traveled so everyone spent all this money on tickets and then Messi wasn't even playing and they had they I mean the entire city I guess had a messy festival and he just wasn't there so that was unfortunate but then
01:08:06
Speaker
like with messy and soir is not playing and it's not playing i mean you have actually an opportunity to. Give all these fans who wanted to watch messy and don't get to show and beat in miami and kinda maybe.
01:08:21
Speaker
Offset some of the negative vibes from that whole thing and instead they got bammed on by Bob T. No, yeah Bob T is the greatest player of all Bob T. I mean Who even cares about getting to watch messy when Bob T is gonna pull out a goal like that? But Vancouver lost two to one
01:08:42
Speaker
Bobtee bammed on him and the whitecaps are just down bad in general, you know We've been talking about them like an upper tier in the West team all year I mean if you look at their record in point total right now, it's pretty much they have 19 points Seattle has 17 Yeah, and it's really over the last month. They've kind of torpedoed I haven't watched all their games in full to speak on necessarily what's going on with them, but I think I guess my takeaway is that the whitecaps might honestly not be as good as we thought they were wait
01:09:12
Speaker
Are you issuing is it? Do I hear the signal? Are you issuing a fraud watch warning? Yeah, I am. Oh, I am. Oh, no. Not for Scottish Messi individually because I think Scottish Messi still cooks. But I mean, the Whitecaps, they're not helping their case for fraud watch right now. Losing losing that inner Miami squad at home with Bob T scoring that goal on you down bad. Yeah, it was really funny because they did the whole bit of like
01:09:42
Speaker
I want we want messy we want messy and then Vancouver's like no shut up We have messy at home, and then messy at home couldn't get it done Yeah, that was I don't know is that a good bit? I think it is honestly yeah I did say that I would have paid 1.5 K to watch Bob T, and I just want to say I am Yeah, that's why I am vindicated. That's what's funny about it is we were joking about that and then he scored that goal and
01:10:06
Speaker
Yeah. All right. I think that's a good place to call it a wrap here for episode 38. Thank you so much as always to everyone for tuning in. We really appreciate the increased listenership that we've experienced over the last month or so. Thank you again so much to all our paid subs. We love and appreciate you guys.
01:10:27
Speaker
Write us a review, five stars. Tell everyone you know about the show. Share it with Bob T. Also, I forgot to mention it earlier, I think, but please sub to the Lovings Quarter. We are on the road to 100 subs. We're almost there. We will be back at you with episode 39 after this upcoming RSL game. Until then, we out. Peace.